Ruth
Chapter 2
1 Naomi had a relative from her husband’s family who was very wealthy, and his name was Boaz.
2 Ruth from Moab said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields to pick up leftover grain from someone who will show me kindness.” Naomi replied, “Go ahead, my daughter.”
3 She went out, came, and picked up leftover grain in the field behind the harvesters. By chance, she ended up in a part of the field owned by Boaz, who was related to Elimelech.
4 Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, “God be with you.” They replied, “God bless you.”
5 Then Boaz asked his servant in charge of the harvesters, “Who is this young woman?”
6 The worker in charge of the harvesters replied, “She is the young woman from Moab who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab.”
7 She said, “Please let me pick up leftover grain behind the harvesters among the bundles.” So she went, and has been working from morning until now, except for a short rest in the shelter.
8 Boaz said to Ruth, “Didn’t you hear, my daughter? Don’t go to pick grain in another field, or leave this place, but stay close to my women workers.”
9 Watch the field where they are harvesting, and follow them. Haven’t I told the men not to bother you? When you’re thirsty, go to the jars and drink what the men have filled.
10 Then she knelt down, bowed to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you notice me, even though I am a foreigner?”
11 Boaz replied to her, “I’ve been told about everything you did for your mother-in-law after your husband died, and how you left your parents and your birthplace to come to a people you didn’t know before.”
12 God repay your work, and may you get a full reward from the God of Israel, under whose protection you have come to trust.
13 Then she said, “Please look on me with kindness, sir, because you have comforted me and spoken kindly to me, your servant, even though I am not like one of your maidservants.”
14 Boaz said to her, “Come here at mealtime, eat some bread, and dip your piece in the vinegar.” She sat next to the harvesters, and he handed her some roasted grain. She ate, was satisfied, and had some left over.
15 When she got up to collect grain, Boaz told his workers, “Let her gather grain even among the bundles, and do not bother her.”
16 Drop some extra grain for her on purpose and leave it so she can pick it up, and do not scold her.
17 She picked grain in the field until evening, then she threshed what she had collected, and it was about an ephah of barley.
18 She picked it up, went to the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gathered. She then brought out and gave to her the leftovers she had kept after eating enough.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you gather grain today? Where did you work? May God bless the one who noticed you.” Then she told her mother-in-law who she had worked with and said, “The man I worked with today is named Boaz.”
20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May God bless him for his kindness to both the living and the dead.” Naomi also told her, “That man is one of our close relatives.”
21 Ruth, from Moab, said, “He also told me to stay close to his young men until they finish all his harvest.”
22 Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It’s good, my daughter, for you to go out with his young women, so that you are not met in any other field.”
23 She stayed close to Boaz’s servant girls to pick grain until the barley and wheat harvests were finished; and she lived with her mother-in-law.